Chapter 6- Socioemotional Development In Infancy

At what age do babies have a 'sense of self' and how is it tested?

18 months of age

Effortful control

Ability to focus, shift, and sustain attention when desired, and inhibit responses; emphasizes a cognitive, flexible approach to stressful circumstances.

Trust vs Mistrust

According to Erikson, the first year is characterized by trust-versus-mistrust and can arise at successive stages of development (a sense of mistrust can be activated at a later stage)

temperament

Early, genetically based (50-60%) but environmentally influenced individual differences in behavioral styles, emotions, and characteristic ways of responding. Serve as the building blocks of later personality

Thomas & Chess

Easy temperament Difficult temperament Slow-to-warm-up temperament

Harlow on Attachment

Harry Harlow Harry Harlow's studies suggest that a social bond is more important than food and physical presence He identified the importance of 'contact comfort': pleasurable, tactile sensation provided by a soft, cuddly parent.• Monkeys reared in isolation: bizarre behaviors (compulsive rocking, clutching, self-mutilation); fearful of other monkeys, then aggressive, unable to socialize. The longer the isolation, the more severe the symptoms. Raised with cloth 'surrogate' monkeys: more timid, unable to socialize, took refuge when frightened, more likely to explore difficulty mating, inadequate mother

3 Theories of Temperament

Mary Rothbart

How do mothers and fathers differ in their interactions with their children?

Researchers repeatedly find that fathers and mothers are similar in caring for infants Able to feed their babies effectively- Provide sensitive parenting Become objects of attachment There are some differences in the way mothers and fathers interact with children

Surgency/extraversion

Tendency to actively, confidently, and energetically approach new experiences in emotionally positive way

Negative affectivity

Tendency to be sad, fearful, easily frustrated, and irritable

Erikson's 2nd stage

autonomy vs shame and doubt

Jerome Kagan

behaviorally inhibited, uninhibited

Paul Bates

developed the 7 key assumptions of life-span perspective

separation protest

distressed crying when the caregiver leaves. Appears at 7-8 months, peaks at 15 months, then subsides

stranger anxiety

fear and wariness of strangers appear during the second half of the first year of life; and peak toward the end of the first year. The most frequent expression of fear in infancy; more intense in unfamiliar settings

social smile

in response to an external stimulus, as early as 2 months of age

what are primary emotions?

present in humans and other animals and emerge early in life (the first 6 months). Include surprise, interest, joy, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust

social referencing

reading emotional cues in others to help determine how to act in a particular situation

reflexive smile

smile that does not occur in response to external stimuli, appears during the first month after birth

Mary Rothbart

surgency/extraversion, negative affectivity, effortful control

goodness of fit

the match between a child's temperament and the environmental demands the child must cope with.

Erik Erikson

trust vs mistrust